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I’m deeply in love with food. Basically food is my hobby. If it would be an Olympic sport – to eat it, smell it, take pictures of it, experiment with it or discuss it – I would make my country proud. I know many of […]

In today’s post I’ll show you another inspiring novel from Scandinavia: Dina’s Book by the best-selling Norwegian author Herbjørg Wassmo. When I was reading it, I just couldn’t put it down and was forced to go to work like a zombie afterwards. It made a […]

One of my favorite places on Earth is the area where Austria meets Germany: Salzburg, Bavaria, Tyrol – I love them all. Just can’t get enough of those magnificent mountains, peaceful forests and friendly people. Many say that Germans are cold, but every time I meet them, I’m positively surprised. Who knows what’s the trick. Anyway, being a tourist there is an absolute hit, trust me.

Last week we were on a little holiday and spent a few days in Innsbruck and in it’s region. I’ve been many-many times to Austria and Germany, but yet this trip was special: I’m on a strict gluten-, milk-, egg- and corn-free diet and I’m trying to eat low-carb as well – while traveling. I know it’s almost hopeless. But I thought “It’s not that bad, I’m sure we’ll find a huge variation of freefrom products everywhere”. (Don’t hold your cynical laughter, it’s not good for your health.)

My emergency food kit lasted for two days, and we explored in the meantime all the options one with food allergies has in a small village. Here comes a short summary 😉

Regular shops

Spar and Interspar

We visited 4 of them, but even the bigger ones had the same amount of Schär’s gluten-free products as the smaller ones. And they didn’t take a huge space, only two or three shelves. One could find gluten-free bread, cornflakes, cookies and sometimes muffins. All of them had egg and/or corn flour in them. And lots of sugar too.

Good news: we could find gluten- and milk-free products from Alpro in every store. I just love their desserts!

Merkur

We were in a big store, but they had the same things as Spar, only on a longer shelf. I saw Oreo-like gluten-free cookies (made from corn starch and eggs) and my heart broke into small, Oreo-shaped pieces.

Hofer

Hofer (alias Aldi) has it’s own gluten-free products, mostly desserts, but they have everything else (milk, egg, corn, sugar) in them. However before checking out I spotted a gluten-free and vegan goji bar, it tasted amazing!

Conclusion

I’m not sure where people who live on diet find the most important things which fit into their lifestyle, but I assume there are specialized shops and webshops for that.

Restaurants

After our semi-successful shopping I was positively surprised about the fact how conscious people in almost every restaurant are about food-allergies. In every menu the allergens were displayed clearly, in every restaurant with the same letters. See below:

We bumped into one of those perfect places to eat and I was so thankful for that! It’s called MyIndigo and they can be found in Munich, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Köln and Hawaii. They had lots of freefrom meals, and something for everyone: vegans, meat-eaters, sushi lovers, salad enthusiasts, etc. Peter ate beef curry, I had a huge salad with lentils and everything. I want to go back to Innsbruck just because of that restaurant. I just have to.

all-in saladbeef curry with avocado, because why not

Hotels

We stayed at a little pension in Pertisau (that place was true magic – see the pictures below). The lady who ran the hotel arranged gluten-free bread for me for every breakfast, it was not her fault that my first meal of the day looked like that without our emergency food supplies:

yummie, I guess.

I think most of the hotels are pretty flexible regarding food intolerance, e.g. if you book a room in a family-run hotel, chances are high that you’ll get a personalized breakfast if you ask for it.

Austria

And now let’s round up this post with our pictures of Austria 🙂

Achensee by nightPertisauSwarovski’s argumentation techniquethe view from 2200 metersPjotr enjoyed it all

Last week I made a terrible mistake and trusted the randomly picked stylist and thought it was okay to accept her “revolutionary idea”. She told me she would make my hair look thicker. Well, it’s thick as hell now and too short to be true. […]

The first thing you’ll notice about this Norwegian novel called The Half Brother is its thickness. It’s huge. Despite of the fact that I’m deeply in love with reading, I get scared from really thick books sometimes. To start reading something which has more than […]

Spring is here, and this time of the year I always feel the urge to improve myself in different ways. In this post I’ll tell you about my plans regarding skin cleansing. As I already told you in a previous article, I have – unfortunately – a very delicate skin, which responds quickly and harsh to anything it doesn’t approve: stress, skin creams, food, you name it. When I told this to my cosmetician a few days ago she gave me some really useful advise on how to have beautiful skin, which I’m gonna share with you now 😉

The basics

Skin cleansing routine: I’m sure you already heard this a thousand times, but I think it can’t be stressed enough: do your skin cleansing routine every day, after getting up and before going to bed. Use face scrub once or twice a week. Don’t sleep with your make up on!

Moisturize your skin: Even if you have oily skin, it has to be moisturized, otherwise your skin will produce oil for itself. And it won’t look very appealing. Use a skin cream instead.

Listen to your skin: It will tell you if a product you’re using is not good for you. If your skin feels oily, dry, itchy, uncomfortable after using a product, try another one.

Pay attention to the season: During the cold months of winter your skin will need richer creams, which will feel like too much during summer. And don’t forget the UV-protection!

rosy cheeks

Skin-friendly diet

Dehydration is your enemy: not only for your skin, but for your entire body, it’s soooo important to drink enough water during the day! Drink a glass of water right after getting up, it will boost both your metabolism, skin and concentration.

Quit sugar and white flour: if you eat refined sugars and white flour, your blood sugar levels will rise and it will cause a total mess in your hormonal system. Which leads to no good, trust me.

Food allergy: maybe your skin tries to signal you something? It’s quite common that different types of skin conditions are signs for food allergies one wouldn’t know about anyway. If you have problematic skin try to quit milk and gluten-containing foods for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

Beautiful skin and tea

Drink tea: I’m a huge fan of tea and it turned out, there are some types which are known for their skin cleansing effects as well. According to my cosmetician, drinking stinging nettle tea, walnut leaves tea and rooibos tea helps to have a beautiful skin.